Subramaniam Badrinath hit an unbeaten 63 as the Chennai Super Kings outclassed the Pune Warriors by eight wickets on Wednesday for their second win over the Indian Premier League debutants in two days.
In the other match of the day, fast bowler Ishant Sharma grabbed five wickets for 12 runs off three overs to fashion a 55-run win for the Deccan Chargers over the Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
Badrinath anchored the innings after the early dismissal of Michael Hussey to help Chennai overhaul Pune’s modest 141-6 with three balls to spare at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.
Opener Murali Vijay (31) and middle-order batsman Suresh Raina (34 not out) chipped in with useful knocks to ensure a comfortable win for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men in the Twenty20 competition.
The victory, Chennai’s fourth from seven outings, saw them move into second place in the table behind Mumbai Indians, whereas Pune slumped to their fourth defeat in a row.
Yuvraj Singh earlier played a captain’s knock, making an unbeaten 62 off 43 balls to resurrect Pune who were reeling on 83-5 after some incisive bowling by the Chennai quicks, led by Australian left-armer Doug Bollinger.
Bollinger (3-21) struck early, removing openers Jesse Ryder (19) and Mohnish Mishra in the fourth over, before returning to dismiss Mitchell Marsh in his second spell.
Robin Uthappa resisted briefly until edging to Srikkanth Anirudha off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for a cameo 31 that included two sixes and as many fours.
Pacemen Nuwan Kulasekara of Sri Lanka, playing his first match, and New Zealand’s Tim Southee took one wicket apiece, underlining a fine performance in the field by Chennai after having lost the toss.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara top-scored with a 47-ball 65 to take Deccan Chargers to 129-7 from a precarious 20-3, but the game belonged to Sharma, who proved to be virtually unplayable at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
The lanky paceman removed Parthiv Patel, Raiphi Gomez and Brad Hodge off the second, third and fifth balls of his first over, before grabbing two more wickets for the third-best IPL bowling figures ever.
His pace partner Dale Steyn took 3-16 as Kochi were bowled out for 74 off 16.3 overs.
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